7. Imitation and Innovation in the Early Twentieth-Century North China Weaving Industry

This chapter focuses on the question of authenticity, the aspect of product quality related to whether products are what they claim to be. Based on a case study of copying of the technology of the iron gear loom in the North China textile industry in the early twentieth century, it draws connections with the well-known work of Maxine Berg on imitation and innovation in eighteenth-century European markets for products designed to substitute for Asian imports. The paper uses Frank Dikötter’s notion of “copy culture,” which Dikötter developed to describe the activities of Chinese manufacturers who made copies of foreign daily-use items for the domestic market. While Dikötter’s work focused on the consumption of what he termed “exotic goods,” looking at the creation of segmented markets for “authentic” imports and domestic copies, this chapter looks at the mechanisms of production and the role of foreign import merchants in the commissioning of copies. Small Chinese firms then built on the technologies they had learned to establish production bases for independent indigenous production. The chapter draws connections between indigenous “imitations” and the contemporary production of both authentic products and “fakes.” Finally the chapter considers the role of economic nationalism and the role of the state in the flourishing of copy culture.